Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in an interview with NBC this weekend in Switzerland (and broadcast on Today this morning) that President Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize won’t influence “some of these tough decisions” he has to make on the war in Afghanistan.
Clinton said the prize was a recognition of Obama’s “attitude toward America’s role in the world, his willingness to challenge everyone to kind of step up and take responsibility” and that it “really restores an image and an appreciation of our country.”
On Afghanistan, Clinton made an interesting comment — in response to a question from NBC’s Ann Curry — implying that if the U.S. doesn’t send more troops to Afghanistan, it might be immoral to keep any troops there at all.
“If the President decides not to send more troops to Afghanistan, morally, can he still keep 68,000 U.S. troops there?”
Gen. Jack Keane (Ret.) made a similar point on CNN yesterday, saying that if Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal doesn’t have enough troops, “that gets very difficult in terms of a moral dilemma, asking the troops to do something that you believe is going to fail.”
Will be interesting to see how the proposed troop increase gets cast in “moral” terms in the coming days.
On Today, Clinton was also asked whether she’d been “marginalized” in her role as secretary of state.
“I find it absurd,” she said of the idea that she’d been marginalized. “I find it beyond any realistic assessment of what I’m doing everyday.”
Then Ann Curry asked Clinton whether she’d run for president again.
“No,” Clinton said, smiling. “No, no. This is a great job. It is a 24/7 job. And I’m looking forward to retirement at some point.”
Editor’s Note: This post has been revised since it was first published.
